Olmert urges Netanyahu to make radical concessions

Former PM says in opinion piece that Netanyahu is an impressive speaker who knows how to speak to Americans in their own language.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN

May 27, 2011 17:56

2 minute read.

Ehud Olmert 311.
(photo credit: REUTERS)

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert slammed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in
an opinion piece he wrote for Friday’s Yediot Aharonot.

Olmert, who like
Netanyahu, received a political boost from speaking to Congress when he was
premier, advised Netanyahu that to succeed as prime minister he needed to make
concessions to the Palestinians, not speeches to Americans.

“[Peace] will
not be achieved with speeches to Congress or the Knesset, but rather with the
courage to [make] decisions that will change a reality that is increasingly
creating a substantive threat on the State of Israel’s stature, on the
international support it receives, and on its future as a Jewish democratic
state,” Olmert wrote.

He called Netanyahu an impressive, skilled speaker,
who knows how to communicate with Americans in their own language in a way that
touches their hearts. He added that every Israeli should enjoy the positive
reception he received in Congress, and be proud.

“This may have been the
happiest moment in our diplomatic lives for a while now, and it may remain that
way for a long time to come,” Olmert wrote. “Such speeches are important and are
a necessary part of the agenda of every statesman, and certainly an Israeli
statesman appearing in one of the world’s most important venues. However, such
speeches cannot be a substitute for the peacemaking that Israel currently
lacks.”

Olmert, who has not ruled out a political comeback if he is
cleared in the criminal investigations against him, said Netanyahu should
withdraw to borders based on the pre-1967 lines, and give up Arab neighborhoods
in Jerusalem.

In his own negotiations with Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas, Olmert offered 100 percent of West Bank land (minus
6.8% in land swaps), 10,000 Palestinian refugees returning to within Israel’s
final border, and the holy basin around Jerusalem’s Old City coming under joint
Israeli-Palestinian-American- Jordanian-Saudi control.

He last met with
Abbas on September 16, 2008, five days before he resigned, and more than six
months before he left office. Abbas did not respond or make a
counteroffer.

“The two-state solution is vital for Israel’s security and
existence,” Olmert wrote. “The basis of the 1967 lines is the key to this, and
we have nothing to fear in this context.”

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